Saturday, April 6, 2019

Spring Beauty tubers and Red Henbit - a little spring foraging...

I have known for a number of years that the sweet "Spring Beauty" (Claytonia Virginica) are edible. I have never tried them before today.  They grow abundantly in our yard over near the vegetable garden.  I went out and gathered a few of the tubers.  I also picked some Red Henbit (Lameum Purpureum) and brought it into the house and rinsed them carefully with cold water.


Then, I pulled the leaves from the stems of the Red Henbit, as well as the softer parts of the flowers.


I melted some homemade ghee in a skillet,


 added the plants to the skillet, on a medium heat, and stirring, I sauteed them for about 5 minutes, adding salt and pepper.


This next picture isn't very good, but here they are in a bowl to eat.


It was delicious!  The Red Henbit tastes like spinach, and the Spring Beauty corms are very mild and pleasing.  I will be doing this again.

Yummy.  And nutritious. The little corms are high in potassium and vitamin A and are a good source of calcium and vitamin C. The Henbit contains an interesting array of phytonutrients.

As with all foraging, be careful not to harvest too much and deplete the plants' sustainability.




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